The Boy With a Million and One Problems
by zombie.square.dancing
Summary: She tried so hard her entire life, just for a little recognition. Little did Solstice know that with her incredible gift of accelerated intelligence, would also bring about a curse that would corrupt her once pure ideals. Will the visions cease to be, or will they continue to rob her of her sanity? TatexOC


"_Mommy, Ms. Conway wanted me to give you this note. I'm being promoted to Junior High! She told me if I keep up the good work, I'll be in college by the time I'm 16!"_

_The over enthusiastic child pitter-pattered through the small two bedroom home, waving the note frantically as she raced towards the living room. _

"_Oh Sol, that's great sweetie. Please keep it down, Mommy's head is killing her," her mother called out to her from her almost permanent spot on the couch._

_The child approached her mother, the smile she wore forced her eyes to squint. She held the note out to her mother's face._

"_Aren't you excited, Mommy?"_

"_Well, I have a smart daughter, that's stating the obvious."_

"_But Mommy, Ms. Conway made a pretty big deal about it. They even took me into the front office and and the whole school faculty made a plaque for me to go in the trophy case! She wants me to start as soon as next week!"_

_The girl waved her arms in the air, adding ephasis on just how big of a deal the situation was._

"_Why are you so eager to leave me, anyways?," the mother asked wearily._

"_I'm not eager, Mommy, but I can go to college and get a job sooner, so I can help-"_

"_What has my life come to when my youngest child is in a hurry to take on adult responsibilites such as my own medical bills! Don't worry sweetie, you didn't put me here, your father and good for nothing brother put me here, not you."_

"_Mommy, don't talk about Trenton that way! He didn't abandon us!"_

"_No? That rotten freeloading pain of my existence doesn't even bother calling once to express any form of gratitude for me, for birthing, feeding, clothing him for the past 16 years of his existence and he just up and leaves to go live with MY father in Sacremento!" _

"_He calls me!," the girl retorted._

_The mother stood staring at her daughter in uncomfortable silence. The girl grew uneasier by the passing moments, as her mother's face grew dark and sinister._

"_Well, Solstice, if you're in such a hurry to grow up, find a way to pay for your own supplies next week,"her mother said._

"_Mommy, you know I can't."_

"_Not my problem. You should of thought of that before you decided you were too 'grown up' for the fourth grade."_

_With that, the mother nestled back into her spot on the couch and closed her eyes. Her daughter glared daggers at her before turning her back on her to head into her room, to find comfort in some book._

"_Sol?"_

_The girl stopped dead in her tracks. Her heart dared not to beat, for one tiny sound might ruin this moment where she anticipated the long overdue apology her mother owed her._

"_Get me a Coors from the fridge and the Virginia Slims in my purse."_

_The child balled her delicate hand into a fist. She knew she had to get out of her mother's clutches, so be it that she had to study every hour on the hour from that day until she was 16._

"_Yes, Mommy," the girl replied, her voice dripping with venom._

_The girl was now 16, proud, and radiating with a satisfaction of having been reminded of all her achievements that night. She looked out into the bleachers filled with numerous family members of her fellow classmates. As she gave her Saluditorian speech, her eyes fell upon her older brother, Trenton, who had flown out from L.A. just to see her graduate. She saw him on occasion, but everytime they did, they made the most of their time together. He was now an up and coming actor, and was constantly busy with his career._

_Her face turned white. Behind Trenton, was a figure she was all too familiar with. It was her Pappa Isaac. But she knew it couldn't have been, he died shortly after Trenton graduated high school in Sacremento! She blinked, and her grandfather's figure vanished from the crowd._

_The girl realised she had stopped talking and now there was an awkward silence amongst the crowd. Muttering a quick 'thank you' she darted off the stage the best she could in her heels, her face growing hot with embarrasment._

_Though she made a blunder out of her speech, that did not matter. She was just relieved to finally be out of that prison of a high school and the constant studying. She knew her mom would not be at her graduation due to her 'condition', so Trenton and her planned on discussing over plans for the future with their mother over dinner. Trenton drove up to the driveway of his former home._

"_Go get my and ease her into leaving the house for dinner. Tell her it's my treat, that might do the trick,"Trenton joked with his younger sister._

"_I'm sure that will," she replied dryly._

_She walked out of the car and opened the door to the front of the house._

"_Mom! Shoulda been there! You missed a hell of a speech. I thought I saw Pappa in the crowd and I went blank! Mom!"_

_She walked through the entreeway and into the living room. Surprisingly, her mother was not on her usual spot on the couch._

"_Mom!"_

_She walked into the kitchen, which was completely empty as well._

"_Mom, what room are you in?"_

_Opting for peering into the master bedroom, she darted through another hallway. Her stomach twisted into a notch and her breath hitched in her throat. Something suddenly did not feel right._

_Her hand gripped the doorknob to her mother's room, trying to catch her breath. She knew what was waiting for her on the other side. The vision flashed through her eyes. Not wanting it to be true, she pushed through and let out an earth shattering scream._

_A knocked over chair lay on the floor. Above it, was the corpse of her mother, dangling eerily from the twine twisted around her neck and fastened to the ceiling._

"_Mommy!"_

_The girl crawled over to her mother, hugging her mother's legs. The rope snapped from the ceiling, and with it, came crashing the body onto the histeric girl. She was now suddenly face to face with her dead mother._

"_Mommy!"_

_She continued to cry, helplessly pinned down by the weight of the corpse. Her mother's hauntingly green eyes shot open, staring right into her lively brown orbs. The girl let out another scream, this time calling for her brother._

"_Now you don't have to feel guilty about leaving me," the corpse whispered to her before her mind shut down on itself as if it were some sort of computer,and then there was darkness._

Present Day

Solstice grew tired of the view before her, which was the fading decals on the back of a moving truck. Her brother was driving while talking into his iPhone, with, who she could only imagine, his agent.

"I feel like such a Nomad," she said to herself.

She felt the cold nose of their Husky, Kafka, press into the back of her ear as he tried to make his way up to the front seat for the umptienth time throughout their journey.

"No, Kafka, back, you're gonna make Trent, wreck…AGAIN!"

Her brother turned to briefly glare at her then returned back to his conversation.

"Seriously Niall, I think this is a genious deal. Huffpost already called it one of the most anticipated films of next year. Believe you me, after brushing up on the place's history, we'll be swimming in Academy Awards! No, I promise, it doesn't bother me one bit, just as long as the plumbing and electricity work fine. Sure…yeah…you already told that tour group I don't want them driving by while we're there right? Good. Don't want too much getting out to the public. Yeah we'll meet up sometime this week over lunch to talk it over. Sounds great. Alright, bye."

"You done?" Solstice questioned sarcastically.

"He can drone on forever," Trenton replied.

"Sounds to me like you're the one doing all the droning, big brother."

"Hush woman, or you'll remain on permanent sandwhich duty!"

"So we're moving into a haunted mansion, eh?"

Her brother smirked, pushing back his shaggy black hair.

"A supposed haunted mansion. I was cast as the leading male in this movie about this place called _The Muder House_ and Niall and Hanz got in touch with the real estate agent and organized a way for them to lease out the house to the movie company, and I do the Johnny Depp thing and live there to fall into character."

"Yeah except Johnny moved in with a crazy journalist that the movie was based on. What kind of experience are you gonna get by living in a house?"

"Don't tell me your scared, Sol?"

She rolled her eyes and replied, "Even if I was, Trent, I've stuck by your side for the last year and a half. Where else am I gonna go?"

"Perhaps a university. UCLA seemed pretty interested in you."

Solstice shook her head 'no'. She had no desire, nor the will to make her way into another learning institution. All those years of accelerated learning courses and achievements, just to get her mother to notice her, all gone to shit. The only thing she cared for was her art. It was the only thing she found a drive for nowadays.

"If you ever need to see someone, you know I can arrange it anytime you like," her brother said trying to lay off the school subject.

"You remember what happened with the last one."

And with that, Trent bit his tongue and remained silent for the remainder of the drive.

Soon the vehicles came to a halt, and their destination was now in full view. An enormous rust colored mansion.

"Vintage," Solstice said causing her brother to laugh.

"Glad you like it. With a name like Murder House, I knew it would tickle your fancy."

They stepped out of the car, gocking at the massive home. Solstice brushed a bit of her dyed Azure hair behind her ear as she walked over to the backseat to let Kafka out.

"Plenty of leg room," Trent called over to her as she clipped on Kafka's leash to his harness.

"That's an understatment," she scoffed.

Kafka grew restless and beckoned to explore to foreign facility.

"Looks like he needs to go. Go find a good spot for him to mark his territory. I'm gonna talk to the movers," Trenton said as he walked over towards the back of the moving truck they had been staring at for the last couple of hours.

Kafka jerked forward again, causing Sol's petite frame to almost topple onto the ground.

"Alright, Kaf, chill!"

The Husky tugged again, causing Sol to finally fall over and drop the leash. The dog raced to the back of the house at full speed.

"Christ on a fucking stick! Kafka!"

She chased after the dog as fast as she could. Though running was a fond pasttime of hers, she was still nowhere near fast enough to catch up with a fully matured sled dog. She reached the backyard and found a boy rubbing the submissive belly of her dog, whom was currently sprawled out on the ground.

"Kafka, you dick! I hate it when you do that! I can't keep up with you anymore!"

She walked over to the dog and the hunched figure of the boy. He quipped his head to look up at her. And that's when she felt it. The same sick, twisted feeling she felt right before she came across her mother's corpse. She saw the boy, surrounded by a SWAT team, being shot repeatidly in the chest, and fall dead to the floor. She blinked and saw that the boy was not dead, but still staring up at her with almost pitch black eyes.

"Hey, the name's Tate."


End file.
